Georgina recommends ….. Tonolito tapas bar
Tonolito means little barrel
If you want a fun place to start a night out in Marbella which is very authentic Spanish, Tonolito is an excellent choice. It’s a little place in the back streets off Orange Square which offers a free tapas with every drink you order. They have a choice of 50 to choose from and it’s fun to try out a good selection to accompany your drinks.
The location: This can be a tricky one to find the first few times, but I’ll try to explain how to get there. If you enter the Old Town from the central fountain of the Alameda park, you will find yourself in a little square where they serve churros, with a perfume shop on the corner. Straight ahead of you there are two streets going further up into the Old Town. Take the right road and you will find Tonolito on your left hand side with a barrel outside.
The food: This is fairly basic tapas, but it’s nice, with a huge choice of 50! I like the meatballs, flamenquin, croquettas, patatas bravas, chorizo casero and the tiny hamburgers. The portions are quite small (you do get it free) but they are filling with the bread and olives you get too.
The service: Service here is not the best and you have to be quite patient and not in a rush to really enjoy this place.
The decor: This is rustic Spanish style, with barrells and high stools and bright lighting. However, the atmosphere in the evening is excellent, with lots of Spanish in their twenties and thirties glammed up and ready to go out, coming in for a few drinks and a bite to eat before moving on. The best time to come here is 9-12.
The price: This is a very cheap way to have a light meal and get ready for a proper night out. The beers are slightly more expensive than normal at around 2€ for a caña, but 3 tapas would probably be enough to fill you up and line the stomach and so it’s pretty good value!